I guess you could also say roaming holiday since Princess Audrey Hepburn tires of the royal life and goes AWOL with Gregory Peck. A true classic is given the special edition treatment by Paramount as they gear up to celebrate 100 years in the film business.
Bored Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) slips away from her minders and goes on an adventure in Rome. She meets up with reporter Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) who smells a story when he finds out who she is. He has his pal Irving (Eddie Albert) follow them around as they tour the ancient city. However, fate intervenes and the world weary reporter finds that he’s falling in love with the princess.
Ah Rome, its beauty can only be overshadowed by the beauty of Audrey Hepburn. Both are given ample screen time in this film that has romance dripping out of its every pore as helmed by the legendary director William Wyler.
Legend says that Gregory Peck was given top billing for the film and insisted that Hepburn be raised to equal billing when he saw the up and coming star in action. We can surely see her star quality in this her first real film role and the rest of the world would make her the film legend that she became.
Gregory Peck is fine in the “selfish, but going to fall in love” role and Eddie Albert offers some great comedic support. Roman Holiday is an eternally fine film as the ancient city is an eternal tourist’s destination.
Paramount is pre-celebrating their Centennial by redoing special editions for a selection of their films (Sunset Boulevard and Sabrina are also given the treatment). So each film is given the two disc treatment and adds some new extra features.
The Academy was also charmed by the delightful Hepburn as she would win the best actress Oscar for her role, her first and only Oscar (though she did win a humanitarian award in 1993).
Disc two starts off with the 30 minute “Audrey Hepburn: the Paramount Years” which chronicles the six films she made for the studio. The 12 minute “Remembering Audrey” pays tribute to her by interviewing her son Sean Ferrer and companion Robert Wolders. The 9 minute “Rome with a Princess” looks at the Roman locations.
The 12 minute “Dalton Trumbo: From A-List to Blacklist” profiles the screenwriter who had to remain in the shadows about his involvement with the film since he was on the blacklist. The 6 minute “Restoring Roman Holiday” shows how the film was restored for DVD.
The 5 minute “Behind the Gates: Costumes” is about the studio’s costume department. The 9 minute “Paramount in the 50s” covers the studio’s hits during this decade (and appears on all the Centennial discs). Finally you get 3 theatrical trailers, photo galleries, and a booklet with stills and notes.
Roman Holiday is a whimsical film that still warms the heart today. It shows the magnificent Audrey Hepburn in her best light and we see why Peck insisted that she get equal billing. Paramount has produced a fine new edition to celebrate the film.
Roman Holiday - The Centennial Collection is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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